Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh
About 120,000 students would have missed the opportunity to access Senior High School (SHS) education this year, but for the government’s Free SHS intervention, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, a Deputy Minister of Education, has said.
He made reference to available data, which showed that in excess of 100,000 students annually do not gain access to SHS education due to financial difficulties to buttress his assertion.
Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum said in the northern parts of the country, an average of between eight and 10 percent of students placed in SHS by the computerized school selection system were unable to pursue their education because of the                      non-existence of feeding grant.
The average figure for the southern part was however, between 30 to 35 percent and he attributed this to the inability of the parents to pay the school fees.
Dr. Adutwum was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a two-day workshop for members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education in Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital.
It provided the platform to update the committee on the operations of the Education Ministry and its agencies.
He indicated that the Free SHS is not only about access, but quality and equity – to ensure a more robust educational system.
Dr. Adutwum said this was being done through the combination of effective supervision, curriculum review and professional development.
He said the government is determined to go the extra mile to make sure that senior high school administration is run properly and more efficiently.
“That a school should record 70 percent failure at an examination should not be countenanced by anyone,” he added.
He gave the assurance that the Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEIP) started by the previous government would be continued to help improve the quality of teaching and learning.
Enoch Cobbinah, Chief Director of the Ministry, said priority had been placed on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.
The teacher training curriculum would also be reformed to adequately prepare the teachers to enhance classroom performance, he indicated.
GNA